Rain!

 

Rain drops on roses. 

It isn't a whole lot of rain yet, but it's the first actual, real rain in four months.

Yesterday Seattle had the distinction of having the worst air quality in the world! Today it's much better. We still could use some real, cleansing rain and wind, but we'll take what we can get.

Puddles!

Tom has been busy, and I have helped a little, getting things in the garden ready for season changes. We have moved all of the desert plants off the patio and into the green house or under cover. 

We have cleaned out beds. There will be more to do once we get a frost.

The fuchsias will be happier now that it is moister and cooler. 

Tom has taken cuttings from all of these geraniums and now they are just enjoying breathing and showing off their fancy leaves. 

About the only other color we have on leaves so far is this bonsai. Most deciduous trees are mostly still green, except for those that are just brown. 

But the seasons are slowly progressing. There'll be no frost on the pumpkins, but there might be raindrops!

Whidbey Water and Sky

 Deer Lagoon, the back yard of our cabin, is sometimes full and sometimes not. When it is full of tidal water and the weather is calm, it is a lovely mirror of the sky.

In the morning, as the fog lifts and melts away.

Afternoon

On one of our outings we stopped to enjoy the scenery at Ebey's Landing.

And of course, when the sun sets over Useless Bay, The sky and water take on new colors. 

More Whidbey Wanderings

 The south end of the island has several good nurseries that we like to visit. 

Venture Out Nursery looked to be sold out of most of their stock, which is good for them. That means they had a good gardening season. There were still some fun places to explore. They are a fairly new nursery, having refurbished an older nursery that had gone out of business. 

Bayview Garden is very near our cabin and we go there often. It was looking very autumnal. 

This nursery has wonderful displays outside spring, summer, and fall. They were working on setting up their Christmas displays in the greenhouse. I complimented a man who was working in the yard and he told me he is the one that does them. Good. People need praise. 

About the only color we are getting here is in the ornamental trees and shrubs. The natives are mostly just going brown. We bought a few plants to put in the cabin garden, which is looking very dead, but we brought them home for now. We can't plant anything until the rains come. It is so very dry here that it's getting scary. And the forest fire smoke still taints the air. 

We were so happy to have clear air and blue sky while we were on Whidbey.

Island Wanderings

 We had a good three days on Whidbey Island. We did a little exploring, Tom did a little work, and we did a lot of resting. 

Now that we don't usually have kids or grandkids with us, we like to explore the island.  We usually manage to find something new. This time it was Price Sculpture Forest, east of historic Coupeville, where a half mile trail through natural forest leads you past realistic and abstract pieces of art.

Nature is an artist too. 

That one below. Yeah, I didn't really get it either. 

Lead on.

That one up there. Kinda' cool. ^

Nature made. 

Look out! T-rex lurking. 

It "barks". :-)

We enjoyed the walk in the woods too.

Gorilla in the midst. 

Cubism?

OK, I will.

See all the scattered feathers? Crash landing.

We enjoyed this art walk on the wild side very much, but the part that was up and down hill and bumpy was taxing for me and we were hungry for a little something. We finally found a coffee shop in Coupeville that looked like it had what we needed. Tom had quiche and I had carrot cake. 

Hey, it had nutrients: carrots, coconut, nuts, raisins, cream cheese, and there was milk in my latte. Great lunch!